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April 2019 Newsletter

Spring is really here! Tulips are coming up, lambs are romping around, my madder plants are emerging showing little red sprouts, rhubarb is coming out of the ground looking like an alien. And, I don’t mean to scare you, but April is National Moth Hatching Month. It’s true. I read it on the internet, along with tips from Textile conservators, the Smithsonian Institution, and Martha Stewart, for preventing, and dealing with wool moths and carpet beetles. For the clothes moth, the larval stage (larvae is the form that eats your fiber) will last between two months (a warm humid climate) and six months (a cool climate). So April isn’t the only month when we worry about these things – but here we are.
In Brief: Moths like dirty or dusty wool and dark, warm spaces best. Carpet beetles especially love beer or tomato juice-soiled textiles. Who knew? Cellulosic fibers are not immune. The larvae will munch whatever is in their path. The old saying is “Air and light are the enemy of moths.” So, sorting your stash, cleaning and vacuuming the closet/room/building where you keep your yarns and fleeces, are recommended activities, BEFORE the temperatures get up in the 70’s. Vacuum up dust – the critters can live on wool dust, hair and dead insects (ick) for months, even in a sealed space. Avoid moving questionable fibers into other areas of the house before cleaning. Wash the vacuum nozzle with dish soap and dry it between cleanings, to make sure the tiny eggs aren’t transported.
Alert! Mothballs are not recommended. There are two forms of mothballs: Naphthalene and Paradichlorobenzene (PBD).  Both are known animal carcinogens and possible human carcinogens. Check out the websites below for full information, and you’ll know all of what I know about moth prevention and damage control. Happy Spring cleaning! Sorting and caring for your yarn and fiber is always a responsible activity. Using it is the best!

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Happy spring spinning and weaving, and don’t forget to practice your knitting outside – World Wide Knit in Public Day is coming up in June!

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Carol Berry,
2018-2019 WWG President
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Textile Conservation/ Moth and Carpet Beetle Prevention Resources:
Protecting Textiles from Moth and carpet beetle larvae
A Textile Conservator Explains How to Deal With Clothes Moths
The Basics of Mothproofing
Clothes Moths

Upcoming Programs ​​

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April 20  -  ​WWG Meeting 
Katherine Larson, Author of “The Woven Coverlets of Norway” is our April speaker. Kay is a faculty member in the UW Department of Scandinavian Studies, a weaver and expert Textile researcher and speaker. Kay will bring two tables worth of samples, along with her slide show. You will not want to miss this program!
See whatcomweaversguild.org/events for further program information or contact as at whatcomweaversguild@gmail.com.
Membership Dues 2019
HAVE YOU PAID YOUR 2019 DUES?  The good news is that we have 42 paid members — thank you!!  The not-so-good news is that 25 of last year’s members haven’t yet renewed their memberships — if I didn’t catch you at the March meeting, you can send your check to WWG, PO Box 403, Bellingham 98227 (individual, $25; family, $35; student, $20).  We’ll be cleaning up our e-mail list in April to include only paid members — don’t miss out on news and announcements from the Guild! 

Program Notes

Looking Back, March Meeting
Our program for March Program included member plant-dyed yarns as show and tell, and an inspiring documentary on the re-emerging production of natural Indigo, created by the Maiwa Foundation. Seeds for Madder (Red), Weld (Yellow) and Japanese Indigo (Blue) were shared. If you want seeds, contact Carol B. there are still plenty. Michelle showed her lovely plant-dyed Fair-Isle knitting project, and Tina’s basket of handspun bulky wool in shades of Indigo blue has us all inspired to decorate with yarn, even if we don’t have a particular project in mind!


Summer 2019 Travel, Connect, Relax, and Learn
June offers two regional opportunities to get away and immerse yourself in an intensive fiber experience: The ANWG Conference in Prince George, BC “Confluences”, and the Stehekin Spinning Rendezvous Revival. If you have questions about the Rendezvous activities, contact Molly Gerhard at mollygerhard@gmail.com

Thanks!
Carol Berry, Program Chair

Jansen Spring Textile Classes, from Sheri Ward

  • Tapestry Explorations, Thursdays, April 4-18, 1-3:30 pm with Joyce A. Noordmans; $90 plus $15 materials fee
  • Felted Hat, Friday, April 5, 11 am – 4 pm with Donna Hunter; $55 plus $10 materials fee
  • Designing and Weaving for Clothing, Saturdays, April 13-27, 2-4 pm with Sheri Ward & Susan Clueit; $90
  • Introduction to Spinning, Wednesday, April 17, 1-4 pm with Chris Paul; $30
  • Weaving on a Rigid Heddle Loom, Saturdays, April 27, 1-4 pm, and May 4, 1-5 pm with Kelley Dragon; $105 plus $15 materials fee
  • Lace Weaving, Wednesdays, 1-4 pm with Sheri Ward; $145 plus $10 materials fee

​To see details and to register, visit https://www.jansenartcenter.org/textiles-studio

Two New Group Projects at the Jansen Textiles Studio

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Block Twill Tea Towel
The 2-block twill "window pane" draft from the “18 Towels on 8 Shafts” book is on the loom! This warp offers many pattern variations. Cost is $10 loom use fee per person, and $5.00 per towel for warp materials.  Provide your own weft. Suitable wefts are 22/2 cottolin, 16/2 linen, 8/2 and 5/2 cotton, or similar weights in cotton or linen. We put 20 yards of warp on the loom, to accommodate the 10 people who have signed up to weave one or two towels each. A waiting list is forming for the next warp. Contact Carol Berry with questions. handwoveninbellingham@gmail.com
 
Wide Wool Blanket Project
Plans are being made for weaving wool blankets in 2-block twill, on the 60” wide Glimakra Loom. Cost will be $20 loom use fee per person, and each person will purchase their own warp and weft materials. “Tuna” Swedish wool blanket yarns from Glimakra is recommended. The threading will be 10 EPI, (600 ends) and the warp for each blanket can be 3 or 4 yards long. We will measure each warp separately and tie on to a dummy warp for each blanket. Each weaver will be able to choose their own colors, from the 100+ colors available. A group meeting will be scheduled to discuss the project, decide on a threading pattern, and plan a group order for the yarns.
If you are interested, Contact Carol Berry with questions. handwoveninbellingham@gmail.co

Jansen Art Center News

Jansen Center Studio Showcase Exhibit
​It’s not too late to visit and view the Jansen Center Studio Showcase Exhibit. More than fifteen Textile artists entered over 60 pieces, and that’s not including the Ceramics and Jewelry showcase entries, which are also fabulous. The Exhibit is up through April 26. The Jansen Arts Center is open Tuesday – Saturday, 11-5. Thursdays 11-7

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Announcement
Note from Chris Paul & Cynthia Poppe: SpiNit won't be meeting at the Jansen Art Center from April through September but plan on starting up again in October.  Will keep you posted on that for sure.

From other guilds and Study Groups

Spindrifters Meetings: 
Spindrifters meet the 2nd Saturday of the month and share with Skagit County. To be added to their e-mail list contact Tina spindrifters1@hotmail.com. There you have it: You are always welcome at the "J" on Thursdays which is open studio from 11-7. Happy Spinning!! Chris Paul. Youthfair.chris@gmail.com.
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Workshops in Fibers and other interesting stuff: 
Dyeing, soaps, lotions, felting, spinning, weaving, botanicals… Please check my website as my schedule is always changing and usually current.
Liz Moncrief, www.aweaversway.com, 970-692-3949


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From the Whidbey Weavers Guild: 
Meetings are on the first Thursday of the month and run from 10:00 to 2:30, bring your brown bag lunch and cup. Meeting place: 15 NW Birch Street, Coupeville WA 98239, www.whidbeyweaversguild.org.

​Whidbey Island Spin-In, April 6 & 7, 2019, Oak Harbor
Join the fun at Oak Harbor High School! The 48th annual Spin-in put on by the Whidbey Island Weavers guild, is an event you won’t want to miss. Gather with spinning friends, learn from featured speaker Amelia Garapoli, and shop the vendors! $15 admission for two full days, or “open to the Public” shopping on Saturday from 11-1

Small Looms Group, from Sharon Allen 
First Saturday of every month at Bellingham Library for the active Small Looms Group. Join in on the fun with your Inkle, tapestry, tablet weaving, rigid heddle or any loom small enough to bring to the library!

Pacific NW Wool Drop-In Studio
Kelley Dragon, WWG member, spinner, and owner of Pacific NW Wool (Awesome Carded Fiber for spinning and felting) is opening her work studio the fourth Sunday of every month, from March through October. Drop-in times are Noon to 4 pm. Bring something you are working on, buy wool, see the machinery, spend time with other lovely, artistic people. The Pacific NW Wool work studio is located in the Grandview Business Center, on Portal Way between Ferndale and Custer. Suite 102
The Next Drop In will be Sunday, 04/27/19. Please email Kelley if you have questions.

kelley@pacificNWwool.com
www.pacificNWwool.com

Interest Groups and Mentoring
Are you interested in a technique, weave structure, type of loom, particular fiber? A countermarche loom group is starting, members get together for plant dying and eco-printing; spinners love to spin together, folks are weaving gifts for the Salish Canoe Journey, Sprang is a thing; Small Looms, Inkle, Tablet weaving, finger Weaving, Rigid Heddle… what is your thing? Find a mentor or be a mentor. Shout it out and share the learning, practice and fun.

Announcements

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Confluences 2019 Prince George, BC 
​The Countdown Begins!
Early Bird Registration continues until April 15th with a great choice of Pre-Conference Workshops and Conference tickets available. We have 24 instructors offering 18 workshops and 76 seminars. Opening & Keynote, Fashion Show, Exhibits, Market Hall, Special Interest Meetings and more. We are offering additional spaces for workshop and seminars by Jane Stafford and workshop by Robyn Spady.
Be part of the show!
Showcase your love, imagination and skills for weaving, spinning and the fiber arts in the Fashion Show, Exhibits and Guild Booths. We invite attendees to interpret the conference theme of Confluences individually or in conjunction to others. We are offering more Guild Booth setup times for those attending Workshops. The Exhibit Categories and Awards has been updated to include several more award categories submitted by Guilds and individuals. There are cash awards for all categories.
What’s New has a series of blog posts on Masters of the Craft instructors continues and other information.
Volunteer Form is available for those interested in giving us a hand with many of the front line and behind the scenes activities that make an extraordinary conference for the attendees.
Market Hall 
Check out the updated list of Vendors, more are being added as they confirm attendance.

Prince George – Something for Everyone has Where To Stay, What To Eat, Things To Do, Services and more.
Fluff and Stuff there will be fiber available to spin and to knit with the end product being a 15 cm or 6 inch knitted square. The squares will be donated to our local Cancer Agency Center of the North to be sewn together as lap blankets for patients to use while receiving treatment. So bring your patterns and knitting needles, some needles will be available. If you wish to donate a knitted square or two you have already completed they can be dropped off while registering. Thank you for supporting our local Cancer Agency.
Thank you to all those who have registered and we look forward to seeing you in June.

Sapori & Saperi, Flavors and Knowledge of Italian Artisans is a blog/newsletter, website, and tour company you will want to know about. Go to https://www.sapori-e-saperi.com for Textile Tour opportunities in Italy, fascinating info about Italian textiles and artisans, and yummy photos featuring fiber, dyes, spinning, papermaking, baskets, felting pasta, and more
Heddlecraft (from Sharon Allen)
Have you seen Robyn Spady’s digital weaving magazine Heddlecraft?  It is a six times a year resource jam packed with information, samples, .wif files, book reviews, all tailored for weavers using four to eight shaft looms and more.
I recently discovered that Robyn on her Heddlecraft  website  has created a link for all Upcoming Conferences for 2019, and what is known so far for 2020!  
An additional link for On-line Learning Resources is full of access to tutorials, classes, Weave-a-longs, and you guessed it, MORE!
Tempestry Project (from Carol Berry)
Climate Change made visible
https://www.tempestryproject.com/
One of the ongoing problems inherent in discussions about climate change is the vast scale of the conversation. The goal of the Tempestry Project, is to transform climate data into something that is accurate, tangible, relatable, and beautiful, by providing data, yarns and instruction for creating a temperature record of a place and year. The Tempestry Project blends fiber art with temperature data to create a bridge between global climate and our own personal experiences through knitted or crocheted temperature tapestries, or “Tempestries.” Each Tempestry represents the daily high temperature for a given year and location. A collection of Tempestries showing different years for a single location creates a powerful visual representation of changing temperatures over time.
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Woven Tempestry Project (modified by Sheila Atwater)
This project was inspired by The Tempestry Project in Anacortes, WA. It was designed for knitting or crocheting to make a visual record of temperatures. It provides a color graph of daily temperature changes over the period of one year. Picking more than one year, several years apart, would show changes in climate.
Being a weaver and not a knitter, I have modified the plan in a few ways to utilize my loom and tapestry yarns to their best advantage. Daily temperatures would create a weaving too long for my loom or such a mash up of colors that they would not accurately show changes from month to month. The “project” also showed temps. From Dec through Jan, so I flipped it around to follow the calendar more closely and went from Jan to Dec, top to bottom.
You can read  the whole article by clicking here.

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Norwegian Textile Letter (from Sharon Allen)
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The Norwegian Textile Letter (NTL) is a quarterly publication for fans of Norwegian (and other Scandinavian) fiber activities, published since 1994. Scholarly or informational articles aim to raise the level of knowledge about historical and contemporary weaving and other textile techniques in Scandinavian countries, and highlight related activities in the United States.

Service Projects (from Carol Berry)
The WWG website will be adding a page especially featuring service and community projects for your reference. Please bring fiber-related service projects to the attention of the guild by making an announcement in a meeting, and sending a note to the WWG board through the website contact page.
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​Wool and Natural fibers at the NWWA Fairs!
August 12 - 17, 2019

Starting in 2019, the Wool show, is more than just wool! Entries into The Wool and Natural Fibers Show, in addition to Wool and natural animal fibers, will now include divisions for Spinning, Weaving, Macrame and Basketry using natural plant fibers such as cotton, linen, hemp, as well as Basketry, using natural plant fibers, including reeds, grasses, wood, cane, bark, etc. These additions to the natural fiber categories will not replace the existing needlework categories. Knitting, crochet and embroidery will continue to enter in the Needlework Department.The Weavers Guild will create and distribute a “Tip Sheet” to aid in preparing your entries for the Fair, including dates, Categories, Divisions, classes and step-by-step instructions.
​Spend a Day at the Fair!
Start thinking about what you might like to demonstrate or help with at the Fair this year. The Rotary building is a lovely and cool place to be in August, with moo-wiches just up the way! Spinners, weavers, felters, basketmakers, make plans to show your stuff, and help the public learn more about fibers and what we love to make out of them. The Fair is August 12- August 17, 2019. Some help is needed the previous week as well, for taking in entries, set-up, and display. Hope you can be there, it is such fun! Yes, the big Swedish Loom will be set up again this year. We hope to have a flax spinning demonstration, and chair caning too!
It’s easy to drop of your spinning wheel and materials right at the Rotary Building, and Volunteers get free admission to the Fair.

Show and sale for Vida Nueva Women’s Weaving Cooperative.
April 5,6,7 11 am to 5 pm

Seaside Gallery LaConner WA Morris and First Street. Fine, hand loomed, naturally dyed, wool rugs, bags and table weavings. Large selection of traditional and new designs. All proceeds support economic and artistic independence and social justice for indigenous women in Oaxaca, Mexico.
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Corazon Journey: Women’s Work in the Oaxacan Highlands
Oaxaca, Mexico
Wednesday, October 9th -Saturday, October 19th, 2019


Explore and Learn
Nine Nights and Eight Days
Cost: $1895 (If deposit is made by July 10th 2019)
Includes a $200 donation to the Oaxacan programs we will be visiting.
Final payment is due on August 25th.
Deposit:  $800 to secure your place. (nonrefundable)
$2095  after July 10th, 2019
Included: lodging, all in country transportation, guides, entrance fees, cooking class, all breakfasts, three lunches and three dinners, $200 donations to local programs.
Excluded: air transportation, meals not included in the program, activities during free time, travelers’ insurance.
Highlights:
Oaxacan city tour, including an overview of its history and culture, with stops at the beautiful Santo Dominqo Church and the Santa Domingo Museum.
Two days with the women of Vida Nueva, where we will learn about their rug weaving techniques, including the use of natural tints.  We will also learn about their activism in their community.
​Observation of the Festival of Rosario, noteworthy for its traditional dance and parade.

Time to enjoy the nightly festivities and dancing at the Oaxaca Zolcolo (city square.)

Day trip to CEDICAM (Centro Educativo Desarrollo Integral Campesinos Alta Mixteco) to learn about their women’s greenhouse program, farm tour and overview of sustainable farming strategies.
Cooking class with Chef Gerardo Aldeco Pinelo at La Cocina Oaxaqueña will feature an early morning market visit to select fresh food for the day’s preparations and will include instructions on making Oaxacan's world famous moles.
Visit to the ruins of Monte Alban. 
Daytrip to village of San Martin Tilcajete to visit the studios of Alejbrije artists.
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For Sale

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10 Shaft, 60” Fireside Loom – handcrafted of beautiful cherry wood, lovingly exercised since 1990, a joy to weave on, lovely to look at and feel.
  • 12 treadles
  • worm drive tensioning (for precision tension)
  • friction break
  • 2 inch sectional warping option
  • spring trelevators on peddles (makes lifting shaft easy)
  • texsolv heddles
  • loom on castors for easy moving
  • shuttle mobile
  • lamp holder and lamp
  • 12 and 8 dpi reed
  • leash sticks
  • folds for moving and when not in use
  • remove front and back beams for easy threading
  • 65” wide, 40” high, 42” deep
  • $3900
  • Location: Salt Spring Island, BC

Wanted

Hello Weavers! I am looking for a 24" Rigid Heddle loom to buy. Dana Zia, barefootzia@gmail.com.
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